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Can anyone please identify the artist from the signature below the crow's tail. Thanks for your help.

http://www.ranchiartandbooks.co.uk/workpage.html

Ohara Koson (also Shoson, Hoson), famous "Kacho-e" (bird and flower picture) artist.

Hi geo,
Thanks for your reply - appreciated. Would you consider this to be a standard woodblock print. I purchased it as a "mixed media" work which to me meant a combination of print/painting. How would you describe the work?

Do you have any comments on the other "mixed media" work depicting a family in a room?

Thanks for your help.

Kind regards, Roger.

I see no reason to think it's anything but a woodblock print. I don't collect Koson myself, but I've handled/seen numerous prints by him and I've never encountered one that wasn't a genuine woodblock. I'm not sure that his stuff has been reproduced any other method.

The other print has the look of a lithograph of the late Meiji/Taisho era. If you can look at the back of the actual print a woodblock will show bleedthrough of the pigments and the image will be mostly visible on the reverse. No visible image - likely a more modern printing method. I don't think it's a particularly desirable work, but I've been wrong before...

But no, I don't think either of these should be properly classified as "mixed media". They're simply prints.

Thanks for your reply and comments. Regret I cannot look at the back of the print as it is very well sealed inside the old frame and don't really want to disturb this. Regarding the term mixed-media it seems to have been applied because there are places which appear to be painted - the flowers in the picture above the woman, the decorative baubles attached to the lamp above the man, the smoke from his mouth, the highlighted items at the woman's side, highlights on the lower child - are definitely applied by brush. There is some script in the bottom rh corner of the picture above the woman. Have tried to photo close up but not too clear. Will add this photo in case it is of interest. Thanks again for your opinion.

From your description and not being able to handle it, it is hard to tell what you have. If it is an original print with added highlights, that might detract from value. If there were some prints "enhanced" at the publisher, then it might be worth more. You have enough information to do the research. This print is later than my area of interest, so I don't know if that is a possibility.

The print below is "special" because it is printed on heavier paper than most Japanese woodblock prints. It is also a good example of gauffrage that geo mentioned below. You can see the embossed design in the paper. Is that what you have?

Cheers,
Stan

Hi, Have added a couple of clearer close-up photos of the Japanese script on the fan in the woman's hand and on the painting above the woman's head. Can anyone read this Japanese script? Is it possible this could be the artist of this work or related to this work?

URL Title :Close up of script on the mixed media lithograph.

Just to clarify, the image of the signature is below the images of Japanese mixed media works. Please wind down the page to find the signature in question on the image of the black crow (or raven). If you have any ideas regarding the Japanese mixed media work please reply here also. Thanks.

This is a Japanese woodblock print by:

OHARA, Shoson "Crow and Cherry Blossoms" c early 1900's

If it is on silk, as your title says, it is a copy.

See link below for more crows.

Cheers,
Stan

URL Title :Crows

Hi Stan, Thanks for your reply. Appreciated. I see the same print is shown in the Crows link. I have titled it as "on silk" but I can't be sure as it is well sealed inside the glazed frame. I cannot really see any texture under a magnifier. It looks more like parchment to me as I presume I should be able to see threads if it is silk? The image of the crow is in different thicknesses of black and stands out above the tail feathers. By copy, do you mean it is not an original painting? When I purchased the picture it was described as "mixed media on silk" which I presumed meant it was part print and part hand painted - is that possible or is it a complete woodblock print in different thicknesses of colour?

Did you have a look at the other mixed media print of the family in the room? Any ideas about that one? Again, described as Japanese mixed media 19th/20th C.

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers, Roger.

I meant to mention, the "different thicknesses" you're seeing are probably a printing technique called "kara-zuri" or in western parlance "gauffrage". A method where texture or raised shapes are forced into the paper - without pigment - to give dimension to the image.

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